Mt Pleasant, IA Climate: Temperature & Rain by Month
Annual temperature and rainfall from NOAA NCEI's 1991–2020 normals →; comfort score computed by PlainClimate
30-year climate normals (1991-2020) from Mt Pleasant's primary NOAA station, MT PLEASANT 1 SSW.
The climate verdict for Mt Pleasant
Mt Pleasant, Iowa has a mixed annual climate rather than one dominant extreme. Its NOAA normal shows an annual average of 50°F. Its climate comfort score of 59/100 (moderate) lands mid-pack nationally, exceeding 37% of station-mapped location scores.
- 50°F
- yearly average temperature, NOAA normal
- 59/100
- comfort score, above 37% of station-mapped location scores
- 38.5"
- annual precipitation · 25" snow
- 163 days
- growing season, frost-free days
Mt Pleasant: NOAA 1991-2020 normals describe a typical year, not a forecast. Method: /methodology.
Normals record plate
Sheet USC00135796 · Mt Pleasant, IA 50°F mean · 38.5" precip
TEMP-COOL · RANK-COOL · PHOTO-FINISH · PRCP-MID · SWING-WIDE · COMF-MID · LOAD-HEAT · STN-1 · BOOK-FULL
- TEMP-COOL 50°F
- RANK-COOL #2,607
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Hershey
- PRCP-MID 38.5"
- SWING-WIDE 52°F
- COMF-MID 59/100
- LOAD-HEAT 6,380 HDD
- STN-1 USC00135796
- BOOK-FULL 6/6 fields
Nearest mean-temperature peer: Hershey, NE (+ 0 °F mean)
Instrument codes from this station's NOAA 1991–2020 normals, mean temperature, corpus warmth rank, photo-finish peer station, precipitation band, seasonal swing, comfort composite, degree-day load, and field book, not a livability rating.
Mean-temperature neighbourhood
Nationwide NOAA normal poles and nearest peers, not a reprint of every IA station list.
- Mt Pleasant (this station) 50°F
- Hot Big Springs, NE 50°F
- Near Hershey, NE 50°F
- Near Sedgwick, CO 50°F
- Near West Chicago Du…, IL 50°F
Climate Living Index · Mt Pleasant
Mt Pleasant: 51/100 · grade D
Mt Pleasant publishes 5 of 6 Living Index dimensions (NOAA annual/seasonal normals · NOAA daily multivariate normals); 1 missing weight rescale to 100.
PlainClimate-derived for Mt Pleasant, not an official NOAA rating. Rankings still use Comfort Score 59/100 (separate formula). Breakpoints and limits.
| Dimension | Station value | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Precipitation balance | 38.5 in · 3.5 from 35 in | 87/100 · A |
| Normal heat + freeze calendar | 145 calendar days | 50/100 · D |
| Snowfall burden | 24.8 inches/year | 44/100 · D |
| Annual temperature balance | 49.6°F · 17.9° from 67.5°F | 39/100 · F |
| Frost-free season | 163 days/year | 36/100 · F |
Mt Pleasant · 2026-08-04 · NOAA NCEI Climate Normals · method · Comfort Score method.
Mt Pleasant is a continental Köppen climate: Dfa
Coldest-month mean 22.0°F and warmest-month mean 73.5°F place this station in continental, no dry season, hot summer climates (Dfa). Class Dfa is the Peel et al. (2007) label for this station's monthly mean temperature and precipitation normals: continental, specifically continental, no dry season, hot summer.
- Köppen code
- Dfa
- Group
- Continental
- Warmest month
- 73.5°F
- Coldest month
- 22.0°F
Source: official public datasets monthly normals (1991–2020) at the city’s primary station. This is a station classification, not a mapped regional consensus.
National standing · heating-led station
Where Mt Pleasant sits across the climate record
Three NOAA fields for Mt Pleasant's primary station, temperature, precipitation, and seasonal swing, are ranked against every station-mapped normal that carries the same field.
- Annual temperature
- 38th percentile warmth
- Mid-pack annual mean versus 6,861 station normals.
- Annual precipitation
- 55th percentile wetness
- Neither arid nor torrential versus 6,352 station totals.
- Seasonal temperature swing
- Wider than 85%
- Warmest-to-coldest month gap for Mt Pleasant is large versus 6,861 complete station-years.
How Mt Pleasant compares across U.S. station-mapped locations
Mt Pleasant's comfort score vs. all station-mapped locations
PlainClimate composite comfort index (1–100), NOAA 1991–2020 normals
59 37th percentile score exceeds 37% of 6,189 station-mapped location scores
- 0–10: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 10–20: 0 station-mapped locations (0%). Below this entry.
- 20–30: 96 station-mapped locations (2%). Below this entry.
- 30–40: 280 station-mapped locations (5%). Below this entry.
- 40–50: 1,113 station-mapped locations (18%). Below this entry.
- 50–60: 1,329 station-mapped locations (21%). This entry sits in this band.
- 60–70: 1,236 station-mapped locations (20%). Above this entry.
- 70–80: 650 station-mapped locations (11%). Above this entry.
- 80–90: 921 station-mapped locations (15%). Above this entry.
- 90–100: 564 station-mapped locations (9%). Above this entry.
Source NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, PlainClimate comfort index · 1991–2020
Mt Pleasant's measured station temperature trend
MethodologyAcross 96 complete annual observations from 1879 to 2025, MT PLEASANT 1 SSW warmed at a fitted rate of 0.07°C per decade. The line shows the fitted change relative to its first year, not raw year-to-year temperatures or a forecast.
- Mt Pleasant primary station fitted change +0.07 °C/decade
Monthly Temperatures
Average daily high and low temperatures by month
| Month | Avg High | Avg Low | Mean | Precip | Snow | Freeze Days | 90°F+ Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31°F (0°C) | 13°F (-11°C) | 22°F (-6°C) | 1.4" | 7.2" | 28.9 | 0.0 |
| February | 37°F (3°C) | 17°F (-9°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 1.7" | 7.1" | 24.4 | 0.0 |
| March | 49°F (10°C) | 27°F (-3°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 2.3" | 2.8" | 20.1 | 0.0 |
| April | 63°F (17°C) | 38°F (3°C) | 50°F (10°C) | 3.9" | 1.1" | 6.8 | 0.0 |
| May | 72°F (22°C) | 49°F (9°C) | 61°F (16°C) | 5.0" | 0.0" | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| June | 81°F (27°C) | 58°F (15°C) | 70°F (21°C) | 5.1" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 3.2 |
| July | 85°F (29°C) | 62°F (17°C) | 74°F (23°C) | 4.4" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 7.9 |
| August | 83°F (29°C) | 60°F (16°C) | 72°F (22°C) | 3.9" | 0.0" | 0.0 | 6.0 |
| September | 77°F (25°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 65°F (18°C) | 4.1" | 0.0" | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| October | 64°F (18°C) | 41°F (5°C) | 52°F (11°C) | 2.9" | 0.0" | 5.1 | 0.2 |
| November | 50°F (10°C) | 29°F (-2°C) | 39°F (4°C) | 2.0" | 0.5" | 17.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 37°F (3°C) | 18°F (-8°C) | 28°F (-2°C) | 1.7" | 6.1" | 26.8 | 0.0 |
The year, day by day
Summer here tops out rather than builds: the warmest normal high is 85°F around July 12, short of 90°F on every date, while 145 dates carry a normal low at or below freezing, the coldest 12°F near January 19.
The freezing stretch
The normal low stays at or below 32°F into March 30, then returns to freezing around November 7, covering 145 dates in all.
Derived from the normal daily minimum. This is a different measure from the 50%-probability frost dates shown elsewhere on this page, which come from NOAA’s frost product.
Where the wet dates fall
The likeliest wet date is May 13, when 32% of years recorded at least a hundredth of an inch. The driest is November 14 at 18%. Summed across the calendar, that is about 84 wet dates a year.
The widest day
September 20 carries the biggest normal gap between afternoon and dawn, 26°F between the normal high and the normal low.
Look up any date
Any date's 1991–2020 normal for Mt Pleasant.
Monthly Precipitation
Average monthly rainfall and snowfall
Snow: 7.2"
6.1 days with precipitation
Snow: 7.1"
6.3 days with precipitation
Snow: 2.8"
6.6 days with precipitation
Snow: 1.1"
8.6 days with precipitation
9.8 days with precipitation
8.9 days with precipitation
7.3 days with precipitation
6.9 days with precipitation
6.1 days with precipitation
6.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 0.5"
5.4 days with precipitation
Snow: 6.1"
5.9 days with precipitation
Mt Pleasant spreads its precipitation across the year
Neither half of the year dominates here: June through August take 35% of the annual total and December through February 12%, with neither reaching the 35% that would mark a distinct wet season. Mt Pleasant has no dry season to plan around, though it does carry a wide 51.5°F gap between its warmest and coldest month.
The gap between the wettest and driest month still matters: June averages 5.1" and January 1.4". The three wettest months together take 38% of the year, against the 25% a perfectly flat distribution would give them.
Shares are computed from this station's own 1991-2020 monthly precipitation normals. "Spread across the year" means neither the June-August nor the December-February share reaches 35%; it describes an average year, not the variability of any single one.
When it rains in Mt Pleasant, it arrives in quantity
38.4" of precipitation falls across only about 84 wet days here, averaging 0.46 inches each. Fewer days carry more water: the year's total is delivered in comparatively heavy events rather than persistent damp.
- Days with measurable precipitation
- about 84 a year, 23% of all days
- Average depth per wet day
- 0.46 inches
- Most wet days
- May, about 10
- Fewest wet days
- November, about 5
A wet day is one recording at least 0.01 inches. These are 1991-2020 normals: they describe an average year, and a per-day average is not a forecast of any individual storm.
Winter brings real snow to Mt Pleasant
Mt Pleasant averages 24.8 inches of snowfall a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals, spread across roughly 13 days that record measurable snow. That is depth accumulating on the ground, which is why it can exceed the annual precipitation figure: precipitation counts the liquid the snow melts down to, and fresh snow is mostly air.
- Annual snowfall: 24.8 inches of depth.
- Days recording measurable snow: about 13 a year.
- At a rough ten-to-one melt ratio, snow accounts for on the order of 6% of the year's precipitation.
NOAA 1991-2020 normals. The ten-to-one ratio is a convention, not a measurement: real ratios vary with temperature, so treat the share as an order of magnitude rather than an exact split.
Frost Dates & Growing Season
First Fall Freeze
October 10
50% probability date
Last Spring Freeze
April 30
50% probability date
Growing Season
163 days
Heating & Cooling Degree Days
Annual totals indicate energy demand for heating and cooling
Heating Degree Days
6,380
Higher = more heating needed
Cooling Degree Days
814
Higher = more cooling needed
Warmest Month
July
Coldest Month
January
Nationwide similar cities
Other rankable U.S. places outside IA closest to Mt Pleasant on two NOAA annual-normal axes (mean temperature and annual precipitation). Chip rows use distinct link sets.
Closest by average temperature
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual mean temperature (50°F here).
- Altoona, PA 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Castle Rock, CO 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Donegal, PA 50°F · 0.0°F off
- Hershey, NE 50°F · 0.0°F off
Closest by annual precipitation
Nearest out-of-state peers by annual precipitation (38.5" here), excluding temperature-peer places.
- Mundelein, IL 38.5" · 0.0" off
- Franklin, WV 38.5" · 0.0" off
- Prairie City, IL 38.5" · 0.0" off
- Denton, TX 38.4" · 0.0" off
Snow and freeze rhythm
When cold and snow define Mt Pleasant
heating led · moderate · mid swing
Mt Pleasant's energy balance leans toward cold weather: 6,380 annual heating degree days against 814 for cooling. Its 51.5°F seasonal range still makes the monthly rows more useful than the annual average alone.
Mt Pleasant's frost-free season lasts about 163 days, a middle-length window whose endpoints matter more than the annual average. It describes freeze probability, not year-specific planting conditions.
-
1. Mt Pleasant coldest normal
January
Averaging 22°F (-6°C), this month sits below freezing for the month as a whole, not merely overnight.
-
2. Mt Pleasant typical freeze period
January through December
The station reports average freezing days from January through December.
-
3. Mt Pleasant snow peak
January
Mt Pleasant averages 24.8 inches of snow a year, with January the snowiest month on the normals.
Questions about Mt Pleasant's climate
How much snow does Mt Pleasant get? ▼
How cold does Mt Pleasant get in winter? ▼
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Data Sources
Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). All figures on this page are from Mt Pleasant's primary station: MT PLEASANT 1 SSW (USC00135796). For informational purposes only.
Place identity: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer places. The conservative exact name-and-state crosswalk finds no Census place match, so PlainClimate treats this as a station-mapped location and does not claim it is a municipality. No exact Gazetteer row for Mt Pleasant; facility counts that depend on place identity are therefore an upper bound, not a municipal census.
On this page every temperature, precipitation, and derived score for Mt Pleasant comes from its primary NOAA station record. No figure on this page is typed in by an editor - each value is rendered from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 1991–2020 normals.